The renovations at the Rose Bowl could lead to UCLA staying long-term

The City of Pasadena has put a lot of money towards modernizing the iconic Rose Bowl stadium. All of those resources made UCLA’s attempt to jump to SoFi Stadium last year even more appalling for donors, local businesses and the Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation.

That move hasn’t happened yet for UCLA Bruins football, with the Bruins announcing that they’ll play their 2026 home games at the Rose Bowl. It’ll give UCLA fans a chance to see the newly updated, yet still iconic, stadium.

Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times wrote in-depth about the changes taking place at the Rose Bowl on Monday. Farmer even hinted at a settlement that could keep UCLA in Pasadena for the foreseeable future.

“The stadium is undergoing a major overhaul of its south end — the one facing the San Gabriel mountains — that will transform 5,000 underutilized bench seats into a field-level club featuring slightly more than 1,000 VIP seats,” Farmer said of the upgrades. “UCLA is staying put for next season and there are indications the sides could be quietly heading toward a settlement that would keep the Bruins in place for the foreseeable future, ending their flirtation with SoFi Stadium.”

The Rose Bowl will host another College Football Playoff game this year, but during the regular season, the new club level seems like a pretty sweet deal for the Bruins.

“UCLA did not pay for the space and can focus fundraising efforts on covering NIL and player costs. The stadium operates under a revenue-sharing agreement in which the Rose Bowl takes a percentage of ticket sales, concessions and parking,” Farmer said. “UCLA keeps all of the revenue generated by the new club.”

New UCLA head coach Bob Chesney , but in the NIL era, Chesney and UCLA will have to do what’s best for business.